The present invention relates to a locating means, and more particularly to a locating means for locating conductive terminals to a printed circuit board (PCB).
Surface mounting technology (SMT) process is widely used to solder conductive terminals to a printed circuit board (PCB). Before the soldering process, a vacuum suction device must be employed to pick and place the terminals on correct places of the PCB. When the terminals are very small and the number of the terminals is large, it is difficult to achieve a precise placement of the terminals. Some conventional terminals are provided with planar portions for vacuum suction devices to pick up. However, this results in larger profiles for the terminals.
Hence, a locating means for locating terminals on a PCB is required to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art.
A main object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a locating means assembly for conveniently and accurately locating conductive terminals on a printed circuit board (PCB).
A locating means assembly according to the present invention includes a housing and a plurality of terminals. The housing has a plurality of side walls and defines a plurality of passageways therein. A pair of ribs protrude inwardly from lower portions of two side walls in each passageway and define a pair of grooves. Each terminal has a planar soldering portion, and a pair of fins extending and bending upwardly from two lateral sides of the soldering portion, respectively. The terminal is received in the housing, the pair of fins elastically engaging in the two grooves, respectively. After the housing with the terminal is picked up and placed on a printed circuit board (PCB), the terminal is soldered to the PCB, and then the housing is removed. The passageways of the housing can be designed to adapt for different terminals
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.